Category Archives: Conservation

Thornley Wildlife Foundation

The Thornley Wildlife Foundation is an information platform for endangered species. It was founded by Michael E .Thornley – Author, Entrepreneur & Naturalist in 2016.

Conservation of endangered species through a combination of environmental protection & education; habitat repair & rewilding efforts and breeding programs conducted by reputable zoos, is wholeheartedly supported by the TWF.

Saving nature through education is at the very heart of what we do at TWF.

It is our mission to find and share the solutions that are saving the myriad array of life that coexists with us on this planet we all call home.
Thus as an individual… YOU… may support these efforts by volunteering either time and/or money to these worthwhile projects.

(The TWF is a not for profit; non monetary; educational and media platform. )

Yet we all have much to do! Did you realise that humans are behind the current rate of species extinction, which is at least 100–1,000 times higher than what nature had intended. In fact the “WWF’s 2014 Living Planet Report found wildlife populations of vertebrate species—mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish—have declined by 52 percent over the last 40 years.”

“And the impacts will reach far beyond the potential cultural loss of iconic species like tigers, rhinos and whales.”

THERE IS STILL TIME TO ACT!

The good news is that there are a number successful wildlife recovery stories ranging from southern Africa’s black rhino to Panda Bears in China. And this is done in unison in helping to protect rich and varied ecosystems while ensuring people continue to benefit from nature.

The term first occurred in print in 1990and was refined by conservation biologists Michael Soulé and Reed Noss in a paper published in 1998. According to Soulé and Noss, rewilding is a conservation method based on “cores, corridors, and carnivores.”[ The concepts of cores, corridors, and carnivores were developed further in 1999. Dave Foreman subsequently wrote the first full-length exegesis of rewilding as a conservation strategy” – Wikipedia.

Rewilding Europe

Rewilding Europe is closest in scale and ambition to the Buffalo Commons in North America, and aims to:

Rewild 1 million hectares of land in Europe by 2020, creating 10 magnificent wildlife and wilderness areas which may serve as inspirational showcases all across Europe.

Help turn the problems caused by the on-going land abandonment into opportunities for man and nature alike, providing a viable business case for wild nature in Europe.

Launch a new conservation vision for Europe, with wild nature and natural processes as key elements, where rewilding is applicable to any type of landscape or level of protection.

Their active sites are:

Western Iberia

Eastern Carpathians

Danube Delta

Southern Carpathians

Velebit

Rewilding is restoring the balance to Mother Earth. The planet was not created simply for the indulgences of the human race, it is the home for all living things to live in ‘balance’, one which has been evolving over millennia.

We are responsible for tipping the scales to destruction, including our own demise if we continue on this downward spiral. However, we still have time albeit at the eleventh hour to right some of the wrongs and once again live in harmony with all that Mother Nature nurtures.

The Michael Thornley Organisation supports Community Engagement in the Humanitarian and Conservation fields.
(‘Community engagement’ is a process with the specific purpose of working with identified groups of people, whether they are connected by geographic location, special interest, or affiliation or identify to address issues affecting their well-being’)

The Michael Thornley Organisation proudly endorse the following Foundations-

The Order of the Southern Cross (OSC) is a Humanitarian and Conservation Foundation. It was formed in June 2010 by Michael Thornley bringing together a network of people of all faiths and ideals to work together for the education, health and well being of our global children.

The OSC also formed a Conservation arm of the Foundation known as the CSO-OSC Conservation of Species Foundation.

More than 5,000 rhinos have been poached in South Africa since 2010, and it’s only escalating every year. At this rate, rhinos will be extinct within the next ten years. We need to act now to ensure that rhinos survive this epidemic.

At The Australian Rhino Project, our mission is to fly 80 African rhinos, 11,000 kms from South Africa to Australia, to establish an insurance population and ensure the survival of the species. They need your support before it’s too late.

The Black and White rhinoceros of Africa are under severe threat and potentially on the verge of extinction in their wild habitat due to excessive poaching, driven by a burgeoning market for rhino horn in China and Vietnam.

Our Wildlife Park, Field Programmes and Conservation Academy come together to deliver a unique approach to tackling today’s conservation problems. This allows us to stop declines of threatened species in the short term and to build the necessary skills and capacity to recover species and habitats in the long term.

With limited resources we have to choose where we work carefully. We prioritise our actions on species and in places where we can have most impact. Each of our conservation projects is reliant on collaborations with national and international partners, whose support is essential to achieving sustained success.

There are three central components to the work we carry out at home and overseas. First all our conservation efforts are based on sound science and wherever possible we publish our results to demonstrate our impacts. We act rapidly as many of the species we work with are very close to extinction. From captive breeding programmes to controlling invasive species to forest management, it often requires a suite of actions to save species and promote their recovery. Finally, we support the development of capacity within local communities and partner organisations to build a long term future for conservation.

MORE THAN 5,000 RHINOS HAVE BEEN POACHED IN SOUTH AFRICA SINCE 2010. ONE RHINO IS KILLED EVERY 6 HOURS. RHINOS WILL BE EXTINCT IN THE WILD BY 2024, IF WE DO NOT ACT NOW.

As many of my friends know I have been a conservationist all my life. No not a ‘greeny‘ as such but a realist in that sometimes ‘mankind’ MUST assist in the conservation of all that Mother Earth nurtures.

More often than not is is because of ‘Mankind’ that species are threatened or become extinct. However we also have the power to try and rectify the atrocities caused by archaic beliefs or simply from greed and some weird ego play these modern day so called sporting ‘hunters’ have.

Rhino’s (Rhinoceros) the world over have been hunted and poached for their horns or forced to the verge of extinction by increasing demand on their habitats.

I for one support captive breeding in order to save the species and there are many movements that are working hard yet need our support to achieve this. Withing the Order of the Southern Cross Organisation of which I founded in 2010, we have a Conservation arm- CSO-OSC Conservation of Species group committed to the education and awareness of ‘mankinds’ effect on all living things.CSO-OSC Conservation of SpeciesAnd I personally support the International efforts to create breeding populations of all 5 species and subspecies to assist in the protection of those remaining in the wild.
In addition, I encourage the education of certain traditional cultures surrounding the NON aphrodisiac properties in the keratin of a horn and the reduction of poverty in the ‘poaching’ communities of Africa.

The following is just one of fabulous International efforts to save the White and Black Rhino’s by relocating 80 individuals to Australia.The Australian Rhino Project

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